Evolution quotes: The context of arguments 2 May 2013 105. All testing, all confirmation and disconfirmation of a hypothesis takes place already within a system. And this system is not a more or less arbitrary and doubtful point of departure for all our arguments: no, it belongs to the essence of what we call an argument. The system is not so much the point of departure, as the element in which arguments have their life. [Ludwig Wittgenstein, On Certainty] This is Ludwig’s way of discussing the logical context of arguments. Philosophy
Biology Aware is finished. Now for something different 14 May 202414 May 2024 So I finished presenting the book Aware on my substack, which will now ferment in my bottom drawer (metaphorically) until it ripens. While that is happening I am preparing to edit some nineteenth century sources for discussions of classification, taxonomy, species, higher and lower taxa, and many other subjects. Does… Read More
Academe Us, them and the real issue 21 Apr 2011 I think I need to clear the air a bit. In the Synthese posts I have been defending the authors of the special issue to which I contributed. Some may think this has to do with my agreeing with them. I happen to, in the main, but I do not… Read More
Biology On borders and boundaries 30 Jun 2010 Thos who focus on differences often tend to look more closely at boundaries than at the core of the phenomenon, whether it is social, biological or conceptual. So I was pleased to read this comment by Will Thomas regarding boundaries in social and historical contexts: However, I want to finish… Read More
So that is what confabulation is about. I’ll work on it for a month or two. In the meantime I will concentrate on the point of departure – of a portrait Charles Darwin which has yet to wing its way from this Sceptred Isle in your direction.
“Ludwig” has always to me seemed incapable of discussing one topic at a time. Here he drags in approximately one level of metatopic, which for him is a miracle of simplification.